Monday, 16 February 2015

Bizarre Emotions by Piyush Naik (Book Review-3.75*/5)!!!

Being a reviewer is one of the toughest jobs as you have to work with the same people still you go on scrutinizing their works and criticizing them. Frankly speaking, I hate it because sometimes I have to be very rude to make the author know what went wrong. I remember I gave very rude review to Abhishek Agrawal for his debut book and I was surprised to see the transformation in his 2nd book. The history has repeated itself but this time with Piyush Naik. I gave his first book that he wrote at the age of 18 just 1 star, unfortunately. I am just done reading his 2nd book named "Bizarre Emotions" and .... Well, read my review to know how bizarre my emotions are at the moment...

Let's start with the cover page. One of the best cover pages I have seen in the recent times. Let people quote it as many times but a book is picked only if its cover page is interesting otherwise there's no other way a book can be judged without reading it. Isn't it? Then, the synopsis even when it states that the three protagonists are 18 and 19 years old; still creates an urge to read about them without assuming that the story would be the same- love, break-up, patch-up thing. Somewhere, the author has managed to tell you that this is different and better. So, Piyush managed to keep the trailer as best as possible that will surely ensure more readers than he already had.

The book is romantic thriller and I totally enjoyed my experience of reading it. I have completed it in one sitting. Piyush's command in the language has improved marginally. The lucidity in every sentence impresses you and makes your reading pace faster. That's the sign of a mature writing when the language and narration does not irritate you. The way story starts at an event and the way Piyush takes us back into the lives of each character separately is wonderfully executed. Even the romantic scenes and the way twists and turns happen in everyone's life is justifying and different. After that, the way story proceeds forward creates an urge in you to know how these teen boys and girl will take revenge against their school principal who had ruined their life for his self-benefit, lust and greediness. The last scene when many secrets are revealed shocks and surprises you and that's when you want to put your hats off for this 20 years old author for writing something as incredible as this.

Coming to the few drawbacks:- I found the prologue and epilogue quite an imitation of Chetan Bhagat's way of writing. Be yourself, Piyush. You have immense talent in you. The spelling mistakes and grammatical errors became a distraction after a point of time. I am disappointed as to why repeated proof-reading wasn't done. The anti-climax when the 3 characters plan their revenge against the principal could have been much better. But it's still satisfying. The biggest thing that wasn't digestible and justifiable to me was the riding of BMW and SUV cars by the teenage boys. This is India and you just can't identify yourself with such NRI-type characters. And the last one- Rasika should have been brought back in the story at least once. That character is just thrown away after an event that changes the mindset of the 3 protagonists.

Summarily, I would say a powerful attempt by a 20 years old boy when compared to some really matured Indian writers who are still unable to write a book with the same passion and plot. I can easily say that this book of Piyush Naik reminded me of Sudeep Nagarkar and Novoneel Chakraborty's books somewhere. And that's a big compliment. It's one of the best books read by me in the recent times and I wish Piyush Naik continues writing such terrific stories built out of passion, plot, love, friendship, tragedy, romance, revenge, vengeance, action, death and twists-and-turns. I give him 3.75*. It could have been 4 easily if the grammatical/spelling mistakes could have been avoided and anti-climax would have been written with little more action and suspense. Rest, I am impressed.